nger of
premature interment is over.

"I do not think I should mind, particularly, seeing a ghost; I am sure
my mental curiosity would get the better of my unwilling flesh; but I
have a real horror of the corpse. I tried to forget the grotesque
exhibition I had stumbled upon, in the novel and interesting scene about
me. The long aisles of the cemetery were filled with well-dressed
people, some strolling, others decorating, all apparently enjoying
themselves. Almost all of the graves and monuments were bedecked, and
presented a most Elysian appearance with the masses of bright flowers,
the streamers of wide ribbon, the lighted lanterns, many of them antique
and beautiful, above all the tall flambeaux, whose flames looked white
and unearthly against the bright atmosphere. Above was a deep-blue sky
with those thick low masses of snow-white clouds one sees only in
Bavaria.

"But that grotesque little figure with its shrunken yellow face under
the pitiless sun glare, its bony old hands, attached I knew, to the
string of a distant bell, did not leave my mind for an instant. I walked
down every path, I examined every interesting monument, I even went into
the other divisions where there are so many statues in the alcove tombs;
but all in vain. I felt that I should see that old woman to the end of
my days. I could recall the very pattern of the cheap black lace of her
cap. There was but one way to rid my mind of the obsession, and that
was to return to the corridor, stand in front of every earthen figure,
remain there until my mind was satiated, in consequence delivered.

"I set my teeth and went back to the Leichenhalle. Of course there were
many to keep me company. I looked long and unflinchingly at two
gentlemen in evening clothes, an old maid dressed for once on earth as a
bride, a young woman and her infant. The coffins lay on an inclined
plane and the edges were so concealed by a mass of flowers and greenery
that the ghastly company looked as if half rising to hold a reception.

"And then I stood for I do not know how long before the alcove next to
the old woman beside the exit, not knowing whether I were turned to
stone or sitting by the Rosewater marsh indulging in some wild morbid
flight of imagination.

"For there he was. For a second I did not fully recognize him, he was so
yellow, his lower jaw had so hideously retreated, completely altering
the slightly cynical expression of the mouth. The bright gay sunlight